Opposition and Emotion

It will be another four years before we can witness unreasonably jacked athletes dressed like superheroes performing contortionist feats. To cure the post-Olympic gloom, head to the University of Missouri-Kansas City tonight and Friday for the Wylliams-Henry Contemporary Dance Company's fall concert. If you've never seen contemporary dance before, it's like a gymnastic floor exercise, except longer, more graceful and with better-timed and way more intricate choreography, depicting a plot that actually makes sense. The series features six high-kicking and tumbling works, including "Letters Never Sent," in which five women dance on a floor covered with their own love letters and hate mail, acting out the sort of avant-garde emotions usually restricted to prose. In "City," dancers mimic the alternately fluid and gridlocked motion familiar to anyone trying to get from Point A to Point B in the metro. Finally, "Angelitos Negros" evokes traditional folk songs interpreting vivacious Latino traditions and cultural values in time for Hispanic Heritage Month. The shows begin at 7:30 in White Hall (4949 Cherry). Tickets start at $15 for students and seniors and are available through the UMKC Central Ticket Office at 816-235-6222. For a romantic date, we score this one old-school: a perfect 10.
Thu., Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m., 2008